


Changing Perceptions

by sidekickjoey



Category: Tangled (2010), Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Angsty Eugene is Angsty, Beware a few crude jokes on the old man's name, Cute Rapunzel and Eugene comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I couldn't help myself and neither could Eugene, Stuffy old men telling Eugene how to act, Well more frustrated, tangled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidekickjoey/pseuds/sidekickjoey
Summary: A stuffy miser and cousin of King Frederic by the name of Lord Anulsby arrives in Corona without plans to make friends. The target of his lack of affection? Former criminal, not-fit-to-be-prince consort, and current husband to Corona's princess, Eugene Fitzherbert. Will Rapunzel be able to cool relations down before push comes to shove?





	Changing Perceptions

**Author's Note:**

> Had a lot of fun writing this one. Something about angsty Eugene is just so interesting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and please leave kudos and comments if you do! :)

It has become very clear to Eugene that, without Rapunzel in his life, he would not know what to do with himself.

She brought him into a rather complicated life – not to say that his previous one of thievery and evading guards twenty four-seven was a cake walk. It was a hellish constant drain that he only very rarely missed when palace life grew monotonous, or when one of the guards peeved him off. However, that was a separate evil. It paled in comparison to the hours of royal training and incessant nitpicking over anything he did – from the way he dressed to the way he walked down palace halls. His waving, his smiling, even the way he sauntered about always had something _wrong_ about it. Something he could improve.

That, Eugene swore, never would become easy, or _acquired,_ as his royal behavioral trainer liked to say. No matter how often he tried to sit up a bit straighter, or how many hours he spent in front of a mirror, something always was off. Matters were made worse whenever Cassandra or King Frederic would point something out to him. _You’re standing too stiff. Your hair is too unkempt._ _You have to look more regal if you are going to be a prince consort someday._ Each word cut like a knife, barreling right past his Flynn Rider confidence and down deep into his less confident Eugene Fitzherbert heart.

Frankly, hearing it all was tiring. Sure, most of it was right in some way. Who else would know the role a prince consort should play better than the _King_? But how often could one man hear the same quips before he cracked and could not take it any longer? With every passing day and ‘lovingly delivered’ comment, Eugene believed he was closer to that breaking point.

He supposed it also did not help that his past still liked to rear its ugly, foreboding head every day. Every commoner, worker, and guard still held some idea of who Flynn Rider was and what crimes he committed. Each Corona vendor remembered the boy who stole their goods on the daily fairly well, and with their pointed glares and hesitance as he passed by, they reminded him that not even a palace pardon and marriage to their princess would mend the financial wounds he dealt. His damage was permanent. It would remain permanent as long as he continued to bear a striking resemblance to his villainous alter ego.

Worse than any suspicious vendor, however, was the King. Eugene spotted him on certain occasions testing him, poking at his limits and seeing if perhaps Flynn Rider would jump out and prove once a thief, always a thief. At first, Eugene took it all in stride. He was just some random man who _happened_ to find the lost princess of Corona hidden in a tower and returned her. Anyone with a fraction of a heart could do the same. But, with nearly three years of his new life behind him, and three years of trying everything to _prove_ he was more than his past, Eugene was tired. So, so tired. Tired of the judgement, tired of the suspicion, tired of the guilt he felt for _no_ reason as he walked down the palace halls. If he had it his way, he would meet each wary eye or cautionary word with a swift shove of one of Maximus’ bright and shiny hooves in their face. Or, if their words and actions were particularly piercing, an area far south of one’s face.

He was done.

This was where knowing Rapunzel came in clutch. Rapunzel, Eugene surmised, was the only person he could trust to never judge him so harshly. When he looked into her bright, innocent green eyes, there was no cruel criticism. He never found them frustrated, or disappointed, or even worried when he faltered. There was only love and acceptance, as well as the ever-wise knowledge that, though he may be rough around the edges, he was trying. Eugene loved that. He cherished it about Rapunzel. It was what made him fall so in love with her back when she constantly threw frying pans in his face and sent him across all of Corona on a wild goose chase for some lanterns. And, years later, it was what kept him in love now that she bore his last name and his ring proudly on her finger. She would never see Flynn Rider in him. She only saw Eugene Fitzherbert, the desperately in love and trying awfully hard man.

He loved her like one would love the dawn of day.

The main issue for Eugene, however, was that not everyone was as accepting and loving as Rapunzel. Sure, her love held its weight in gold. It got him a full pardon from the kingdom and acceptance as a potential consort. Those were no small feats. But, it did not stop the looks and actions that pained him to see from others. It also did not stop people from talking about how he was not fit to rule.

And that was what plagued him more than anything.

As Eugene lay in bed, arm over his exhausted face, he recalled one of these moments that had haunted him. A weaselly old man, a cousin of the King, had come to visit the royal family – unannounced, naturally. Lord Anulsby. Rapunzel had chided him for turning up his nose in disgust and asking nearby guards who _possibly_ could have named their child something so closely resembling the word _anus_. Looking back, the joke had been quite fitting. To Eugene Fitzherbert, Lord Anulsby was one-hundred-percent an ass. Showing up in elaborate red regalia and trailed by far more guards than necessary, he set foot on Corona land without a single intention of making friendly conversation. Like an  _ass_.

Though he often butted heads with the King, Eugene did not particularly enjoy the way that old Anulsby seemed to look down at him and sneer at his family. _Eugene’s family._ Did he, Eugene, deserve such a glare? Sometimes. Did the King deserve it? Depending on the time of day and who you asked, perhaps. It was hardly the way though to look at the very gentle Queen Arianna or his beloved ray of sunshine, Rapunzel. They deserved far much more respect than the washed up miser cared to give them, and that irked Eugene more than any sneer or jeer hurled his way.

In return for such a _gracious_ greeting, Eugene decided he would meet Anulsby with an equal amount of respect. It was a horrible decision really, and he knew so as he went up to do it. He practically could see his behavioral trainer pounding his head into the nearest brick wall at the mere thought of it. But, he supposed, he did not owe this miser any courtesy if he himself did not wish to give it. Relations are transactions, and if _anus bee_  was not going to pay up, why should he? So, after Rapunzel and her parents tried their best to give him a kind welcome, Eugene gripped Lord Anulsby’s hand hard enough to maybe snap a fragile bone or two, smiled a bit too sinisterly, and asked if it felt strange to be walking among the living.

If the horrified gasps and gobsmacked jaw drops from each member of his royal family were not a tell-tale sign that Eugene had stepped out of line, the absolute detesting glare on the wrinkly man’s face was it. It seemed worth it to Eugene at the time. He got to see the old geezer’s prissy feathers ruffled a bit, and it was exhilarating to watch. Heck, it was what he was due. Everyone else was just too scared, or polite, to point it out. He was doing them a _service_ , and a right funny one at that.

But what Eugene had not expected, had not prepared for, when he spoke was for the geezer to speak _back_.

Straightening out his red vest with a huff, he glared the future prince consort up and down, looked over Rapunzel with a similar harsh glare, and then did the unthinkable: he _laughed_. This was no merry laughter, though. No noise as horrid and disgusting could ever be associated with the merriment laughter brings. No, it was condescending and pitying, and it radiated through the room with a chill that made Eugene want to choke the man out. Even Rapunzel looked provoked by it, though she maintained her cool much better than he ever could. She, the queen of truly melodic and cheerful laughter, had to know something was up.

Whipping out a cane from _somewhere_ in his attire, Anulsby tapped it on the paved floor and then stepped toward Eugene. He invaded a personal space that was  _very much not his_ in order to tug judgmentally at the younger man’s coat, tutting to himself. Eugene wanted to deck the guy right then and there.

“Ah, yes. Eugene, is it? I heard you were once a petty criminal lousing about on the streets. Something tells me you have not yet evolved.”

_Evolved?_  The word cut through to Eugene, his cocky smile falling fast. Thieves were not exactly the highest society had to offer, but they were not lesser intellectually. In fact, sometimes he found them to be smarter in ways royalty and high society never could possibly grasp. His buddy Lance was able to unlock sixteen doors in under two minutes without even making a _sound_ , and he was the size of a small ship. No one with ordinary or lesser intelligence could accomplish that feat. Gazing down at ol’ anus, he hardly believed the miser could finish at least _one._

His eyebrows knit together.

“Your trainers should have taught you by now that you will hardly have a leg to stand on against royalty with such trivial commentary, Mr. Fitzherbert. It’s far from how a _civilized_ future consort should handle oh, mere _greetings_.” Eugene opened his mouth to speak, but right as he went to do so, his _in-law_ had one more swift blow to deal up his sleeve. Smirking and leaning on his cane, he huffed in Eugene’s face and then cast his gaze away. “How my cousin allowed you to marry a formidable woman such as his daughter _baffles_ me. In my humble opinion, you should be rotting away with the rest of Corona’s scum in chains.”

That was the final straw.

“Corona’s _scum_ have names,” Eugene snapped, pushing up the sleeves of his white buttoned-down shirt with a snarl, “and you’d _best_ learn them before insulting them to my face.”

It was then in that moment that all hope for pleasantries or Eugene’s new behavioral training paying off flew out the window. Rapunzel, Queen Arianna, and King Frederic all, whether they liked it or not, became spectators to the kingdom’s brawl of a century, where the little guy took on the former criminal in an all-out man war. It caused Rapunzel to shift awkwardly at Eugene’s side. She gazed briefly to her parents for guidance in the situation, too scared to make a move in fear she would set one of the two parties off, but even they stood frozen like her. They had never seen someone stand up to an out-of-line royal like this. While it seemed to toss everything they stood for aside for crudeness and uncivil behavior, they could do nothing more but watch it unfold before them. That alone was enough to unsettle the young princess.

“You should teach me them then,” Anulsby offered, holding his head high in the face of Eugene’s increasing wrath. “You would know their names well I assume, being among those animals for so long.”

Eugene’s eyes narrowed. “They are _human_ , and I demand that while you remain in my presence, in my _kingdom_ ,” he stressed, earning wide-eyed looks from his royal in-laws, “you would be kind, no, _wise_ enough as to not badmouth them.”

Such a statement should have dug him into a deep, near-inescapable hole with all present parties. It was no way to address a fellow royal. Heck, it was nearly a full-blown threat to the old man’s life and wellbeing. Not to mention, he hardly had any weight or right for that matter to declare Corona _his_ kingdom. Rapunzel was all that tied him to the crown. If he really failed at his duties, he could easily be replaced and kicked out of his ‘potential future prince consort’ position that he tip-toed closer to each and every day. Even if he did become consort, that did not exactly grant him ownership of Corona. That power rested in the hands of his beautiful, absolutely mortified wife who sat utterly shaken at his side.

However, nothing came. From anyone. At all.

Perhaps that was a sign he was _really_ deep in it and that he _really_ needed to stop. Silence usually was what alerted Eugene to Rapunzel being upset, so it could very well apply to the royal family as well. But, as he stared fiercely into the King’s cousin’s beady eyes, he felt nothing compelling him to do such a thing as stop. He believed his words, and he did not want the old man to get by speaking to him as if he and every person he had ever encountered pre-Rapunzel was some sort of half-breed. They were not always good people, but they still were human. They had dignity and families and emotions. Eugene knew for certain they deserved at least some shred of respect for that, no matter how low this man thought they lived.

Just as it seemed as if a fight was surely going to break out, the old coward laughed again. The nasally, gross noise echoed, ringing in Eugene’s mind like an incessant alarm. How one man fit so much condescension and hatred into one noise, he could not fathom. Stepping back, Anulsby rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

“You’re quite lucky nothing has come from this marriage.”

The words were directed as a sort of jab to Eugene, but they did not fall on deaf ears with Rapunzel. She gazed away to shield a nervous blush, and, well, Eugene would be lying if he said the King’s resulting angered expression, which seemed to assert firmly Eugene’s ability to _create_ such an outcome, did not give him a sense of pride in the midst of all this condescension. They all knew darn well that, if it were not for Rapunzel taking special herbal medicine every morning, Corona would be _flooded_ with heirs. The King and Queen rested only a few doors down from his and Rapunzel’s shared lodgings. It was no secret to them, as much as they loathed to admit it.

“Oh yeah?” Eugene asked, mimicking his opponent’s folded arms and sealing it with a cocky smile. “Why not, _Anulsby_?”

The miser rolled his eyes. “It would be a pity to see what _deluded_ and _deformed_ breed would spawn from such a mongrel tainting royal blood.”

Something inside Eugene snapped. Anger, fiery hot and pulsating, shot through his veins and propelled him forward into the man. Snatching the collar of his shirt, he pushed Anulsby all the way back into the nearest wall with enough force to shake it and rattle a few paintings nearby. Nostrils flaring, he shoved him against it again just to ensure the man’s head really felt how hard a mongrel like himself could hit.

“Now, you listen here you wrinkly, bigoted, disgusting old-”

“ _Eugene!_ ”

Rapunzel.

For a moment, he did not even register her gentle hand on his arm. How could he when he had the man he detested cowering against a wall, right where he wanted him? He was in the middle of doing what needed to be done. But then, her voice called to him again, and those big green eyes that stared back at him with a mixture of fear and concern cooled Eugene’s anger.

She looked so small. So worried. So concerned that he was about to make a wrong move on her relative and dive himself right into _being_ that no-good rogue who somehow made it through the palace walls that Anulsby and her father claimed he still was. It pained him to watch her look at him like this. For a moment, he did nothing _but_ watch her. He watched her eyes catch the light of the sun that shone through the room’s stained glass. He watched her delicate frame rise and fall with her slightly elevated breathing. He watched her hand beckon him to think like a prince, recollect himself, and move on.

He felt like a monster.

Anulsby fell from his grasp with a discontented huff. Dejected and feigning further injury, he wailed and bemoaned to Frederic and Arianna for help as Eugene stormed off. Though Rapunzel called out to him again, her sweet voice morphing deeper into concern, he continued his retreat from the welcoming room and punctuated it with a slam of the palace door so loud, it broke one of the stained glass tiles.

The whole ordeal left him to where he rested now – arm hiding his shame, body carelessly spread across a far-too-regal bed he hardly deserved to rest on, mind endlessly replaying where he went wrong. The scene had taken place two hours prior, and the longer he sat alone and brooding, the more he became certain he really had done it this time. He more than likely would forever be distrusted by Frederic and Arianna as far too dangerous for their daughter. No man who beat up old men, however ornery they may be, could be trusted with a delicate princess like Rapunzel. Surely so. He did not even want to _think_ about everything Cassandra was probably mulling over and perfecting to get back at him later for this.

Most of all, and worst of all, he did not want to think about what Rapunzel was thinking. Sweet, understanding, calm Rapunzel. If she was done with him, especially because of a sour old man threatening his former friends, he would surely be lost. He worked too hard to lose her like that. He _loved_ her too much to lose her like that. All the time he put into training was all for her. Every breath he took since he fell in love was for her, as cliche as it was for him to admit. To imagine a world without her because, for a second, he could not restrain himself? Well, it brought back a special type of fear that Eugene had believed died long ago when he got over his abandonment at the orphanage. Heart clenching, he groaned.

Then, the bed dipped. He felt it, slight, right at his side. Without removing his arm from his face, Eugene already knew its cause. There was only one source it could come from. Rapunzel.

Peering between the gaps in his fingers, he easily recognized the chestnut locks and familiar emerald eyes of the love of his life. She slid right up next to him, a hand resting on his chest and her head lying right beside it. When she fit perfectly into him, her eyes fluttered shut and a soft sigh escaped her. Content. Beautiful. Eugene had half a mind to wrap his arm around her and hold her even closer so, but the jury was still out on just _how_ in trouble he was. He did not want to overstep and scare away this picturesque beauty from his side. So, he settled on simply shutting his eyes as well and enjoying the feeling while it lasted.

Minutes of silence passed, and then the hand on his chest shifted to rub him, ever so gently. It roused him from the confines of his sleepless dreams. The arm over his eyes slipped from its resting place to grant him a better view of his wife as she soothed him. It was her turn to watch him now. She observed the gentle rise and fall of his chest and the way his chiseled features cast shadows in the dimness of the night. She watched his eyes stare back at her, analyzing her every movement and begging to see inside her mind. Petting his abdomen, Rapunzel sighed and pressed a kiss there. He offered her a shy smile in return.

“Eugene.”

She sounded pensive when she spoke his name. The last time he had heard her so pensive, she had rejected his proposal for a final time and was at war with herself over why she could not bring herself to finally say yes. It was a trying time. Pausing to consider everything, Eugene figured that perhaps this situation was not all that different. He had just caused a royal blunder only a few weeks after becoming the princess’ lawfully wed husband. What could be more trying than that? If her mind was any bit as cluttered as his was, Eugene was sure she had to be in it quite deep.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’d like to ask you the same question, Blondie.” Eugene brushed a strand of her hair from her face. It did not take away her pensiveness, but it did give her the excuse to smile in the tense moment.

“Well I asked first, so I believe I deserve an answer first.”

Teasing. That was a good sign. Teasing meant he was not as deep into the doghouse as he felt. Shifting, Eugene sat up. Rapunzel shifted as well to sit in his grasp. Those long, strong arms of Eugene’s posed a lovely distraction from her thoughts. Rapunzel’s body held so protectively to his granted Eugene a bit of the same. He grew comfortable enough with it to find the courage to speak up.

“I suppose…,” he paused, collecting his thoughts. “I suppose I’m thinking about today.”

“What about today?”

“I thought you’re supposed to answer next.”

Rapunzel’s unamused glare back at him spoke volumes. Teasing time had past. She wanted answers, and he was going to deliver answers because he made a vow to not hold secrets from her and she would be damned if he broke that promise so early on. Sensing defeat, Eugene contemplated how to best phrase his reply. When that complicated and frankly horrifying process failed, he settled on posing a different question Rapunzel’s way.

“Was the old bag of skin and bones right?”

She picked her head up. “What?”

“Was he right about me,” Eugene restated, slowly saying each word to guide Rapunzel to focus, “about…about us?”

“Eugene, I’m perfectly confident that, if I did not take the special herbs mother gave me, we would have more than our fair share of children by now.”

If it were possible to choke on air, Eugene did it.

“ _No_ ,” he rasped, pounding his chest in fruitless hopes he could jostle his stomach back out of his throat, “no, no I am _definitely_ not speaking about that. I’m quite confident in that, actually. B-But, no. That’s not the point. Ugh, Rapunzel, do you think I’m a…a _mongrel_?”

This appeared to set Rapunzel on track. As she looked beyond her veil of thought to find a rather vulnerable version of her normally cool, suave husband gazing up at her, she _got it_. His big, brown eyes appeared almost childlike and afraid as they waited for her response, because they were full of fear that Lord Anulsby’s words were not just his own. That everyone, that she especially, saw him as lesser. As a criminal. As a creature who needed to be locked up. It was as if he expected her to scold him and confirm that he was lower than dirt right to his face.

For a man with a reputation for unwavering, borderline bragging confidence, everything about him in that moment screamed insecurity, and it softened Rapunzel’s heart. She almost felt privileged to see him in such a vulnerable state. No one else got to see him that way, because he did not feel comfortable in showing that side of him to anyone else.

Resting her hand against his soft cheek, his scruff lightly creating friction, she sighed and gazed at him with all the love and sensitivity she could muster. “Eugene, listen to me. You are _not_ a mongrel. Lord Anulsby is just… _eccentric_ with his word choice.”

Eugene huffed. “That’s a word for it.”

“Answer me this.” Her finger punctuated each word with a poke to his chest. Under normal circumstances, this would have made him smile. He loved when she poked and prodded at him, because she never did so in anything but a fun, teasing manner, and it reminded him of his childhood when kinder orphanage staff would try to make him smile. But this time, the action fell flat. He merely watched Rapunzel’s pointer finger hit his chest with a gentle thud, over and over, remaining stoic until she finished speaking. When she paused, he met her gaze. “Do _you_ believe ‘the old bag of skin and bones’ was right?”

Now, this was a thought. It certainly was one Eugene did not expect to be thrown back his way, at least. Uncomfortable, he hung his head and broke his shortly-lived held gaze. Despite this apparent nervous hesitation, he knew what his answer would be like the back of his hand.

“I suppose I do, in some way.”

Rapunzel frowned. Only she could make crestfallen appear so beautiful, if even in a heartbreaking way. “Eugene, you shouldn’t.”

“And why not?” He balled up a fistful of sheets into his hand. Suddenly, all his frustration seemed to push its way front and center inside his mind, screaming to be heard. The thing was, already feeling so weak, he hardly had the resolve to fight it. So he released it. All at once.

“Why shouldn’t I believe that old _ass_ when everyone around here reminds me day-in and day-out just how _not_ qualified to be here I am? I mean,” he continued, opening his eyes to gaze up at the ceiling, “if it’s not your family or royal staff ensuring me I’m far from ready for my future, it’s people like him and Corona’s citizens that make _sure_ I know. They’re all doubting me, and doubting why you ever married someone like me, constantly. And it’s exhausting. Rapunzel, i-if we have kids, they’re going to _forever_ be followed by that…that _doubt_. And I hate that. I hate that for them and I hate that for us and I hate that for _me_. Maybe that’s incredibly selfish, but…but I don’t want me or anyone I love to be called inhuman because of my past mistakes.” He sighed, letting go of Rapunzel from his grasp. She remained sitting upright as he fell backward and plopped onto his pillows. While he sat in infinite remorse, the wheels of her mind sat turning. After a few moments, she took his hand into his and began to rub that, too.

“You’re making great strides, Eugene. People are learning to love you just as much as I do every day, and I’m sure that in time, they’ll forget all about your past. I know I have.”

Oh, how he loved her optimism and kind outlook. It was one of her more charming features, really. It also was usually the most comforting. But, Eugene felt anything other than comforted as she spoke, because the voices in his mind were readily fighting her with every syllable, and he was fighting a losing battle trying to push them away. A man’s resolve can only take so much. Eugene’s was worn and torn at every corner, and for the first time in his life, he felt it crumble.

“They may _say_ they are learning to love me, but you don’t see the way they look at me,” he snapped, tears pricking his eyes. “You don’t hear what they say behind my back because you sit in this castle removed from it all. But I hear them, Rapunzel. I hear them loud and clear when I go to buy you things, or get a haircut, or even go for a stroll. When I’m not at your side or accompanied by royal guards, they _hate_ me, Blondie. I can just hear them asking ‘What did she ever see in him?’ or ‘Why couldn’t they have found someone better for her?’ every second.”

“Well, we’ll just have to teach them why they’re wrong.”

Eugene looked to his beautiful bride with sad eyes. “It isn’t that easy.”

“We can always try,” she offered. Her voice was fragile. Eugene was scared to break it in his downfall.

“So you’re telling me Anus… _whatever,_ would all of a sudden listen to you and believe you if you told him he’s wrong and that I’ve changed?”

“No, Eugene-”

“That he would take back what he said about my friends and welcome them in with open arms? That our children will be _great_ rulers and that I will be a _great_ prince consort when the time comes? Huh?”

“Eugene, _quiet.”_

He would be lying if he said the sharpness in her tone did not scare him. It was fair for her to have it, though, with how reactionary and heated he was getting. He never had raised his voice to her before then – perhaps this was how she handled loud voices. Thinking about that, however, led him down an awful mental road that had him berating himself more and even comparing himself to Gothel. Sensing Eugene’s mind was tearing him to shreds, Rapunzel rested her smaller hand over his rough, calloused one. She kept it there until he finally looked her way.

“I’m not saying things will change overnight,” she said, feather soft in contrast to his outburst. “I’m not _that_ naive, you know. I know it’s hard to change perceptions about yourself. It’s still hard for me to shake my ‘damsel in distress’ perception from being locked in the tower. Do you see the way the guards treat me? The way my dad treats me? How I can hardly leave this castle without the two collectively losing their minds?”

That made Eugene feel downright awful. Here he sat, throwing himself a pity party, when his precious wife was going through the same thing without a single complaint. With charm and maturity. How bad of a husband was he, exactly? Eugene wagered pretty awful to have missed that entirely. A big, dreadful frown made itself home on his face. One of his tears finally escaped him as well, trickling down his left cheek and falling on his vest. Casting a soft smile, Rapunzel reached forward and wiped it away with her thumb. She was too good for him. An angel. An angelic, good angel he did not deserve. Sensing he was buried in his mind again, she leaned to kiss over the spot she had wiped. The tender touch brought his eyes fluttering back to Earth.

“There are ways to change perceptions, Eugene. I’ve been working hard to show my father that I am capable of keeping track of myself when I venture into the city. I’ve tried to reassure him and maintain good records when I do go so that he worries less, and look what it’s gotten me! I can go into the city with you alone. I even gained the ability to sneak into your room whenever you are feeling blue without an entire guard detail standing outside,” she grinned, nudging him.

Eugene cracked a smile. “The old man has lightened up a bit, huh?”

She nodded, caressing his face with the back of her hand. He let out a gentle sigh, and Rapunzel contemplated in her mind if it was possible to fall any more in love with her husband than she already was. He was so soft and sweet sometimes. Like putty in her hands. The sight alone was enough to make her sure she would never betray these soft moments of his. They were too special to judge or turn down.

“Life has shown me that time heals wounds, Eugene. It’s healing me from what happened in my past, and if I’m correct, and _I am_ ,” she added, leaning in to nuzzle her nose against his, “it will heal whatever wounds those misinformed people gave you. Even Anulsby will see eventually that you’re worthy of the future laid out for you. And, in the meantime, you can always know that I will love whatever version of you you choose to show me each day.”

Rapunzel then went in for a serious kiss, one that was met with the release of a breath Eugene had not realized he was holding and his hand weaving its way through her short locks. As they parted, his tear-plagued eyes told the story that his wounds – though not completely healed – seemed mended for the time being. A bit of that good-ol’ Flynn Rider confidence peered back at her, and it made her smile. Seeing it reflected back at her again assured her that she did not need to worry. He would be okay eventually. He just was on the mend and coming down from his anger. He would be the Eugene she loved in only a matter of time.

“I love you, Eugene.”

“I love you too, Blondie.”


End file.
